International Driving Permit Glossary
An International Driving Permit is a standardised multilingual translation of a national driving licence, issued under a United Nations road traffic convention. It carries no driving privileges of its own and is valid only alongside the original licence. The 12 definitions below cover the terms that actually decide what you need. Reviewed 2026-07-23.
International Driving Permit
An International Driving Permit is a standardised multilingual translation of a national driving licence, issued under one of the United Nations road traffic conventions. It carries no driving privileges of its own and is valid only when presented together with the original national licence it translates.
Also written as: IDP
1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
The 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic is a United Nations treaty that standardises the International Driving Permit and defines the format contracting states recognise. Japan, Thailand, India and the United States are among the states party to it. A permit issued under this convention is not automatically interchangeable with one issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention.
Also written as: 1949 Convention
1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic
The 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is the later United Nations road traffic treaty. Where two states are both party to it, it generally supersedes the 1949 Geneva Convention between them. Germany, Austria, Brazil and Russia are among the states party to it but not to the 1949 convention.
Also written as: 1968 Convention
Contracting state
A contracting state is a country that has formally acceded to a road traffic convention. Only a contracting state can authorise bodies within its territory to issue International Driving Permits, which is why authorisation comes from a government rather than from a company describing itself as official.
Authorised issuer
An authorised issuer is an organisation empowered by a contracting state to issue International Driving Permits to holders of that state's licences. In the United States there are exactly two: the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance. A domain name containing a brand does not confer authorisation.
Licence translation document
A licence translation document is a private multilingual rendering of the information on a national driving licence. It is not issued under a road traffic convention, carries no legal standing of its own, and is useful only as a practical aid where an official or a rental desk cannot read the original licence.
Also written as: translation-support document
Visitor rule
A visitor rule is a national provision allowing a person to drive on a foreign licence for a defined period after arrival, without any permit. The United Kingdom applies a 12-month window, Turkey six months and Costa Rica the length of the authorised tourist stay. Where a visitor rule applies, an International Driving Permit is generally not what grants the entitlement.
Digital IDP
A digital IDP is an electronic copy of a driving-document translation, delivered as a file rather than on paper. Across the destinations WorldIDP has researched against official sources, no national authority has published a policy accepting a digital-only driving document. The American Automobile Association states that digital IDPs are not available.
Reciprocity
Reciprocity is an arrangement under which two states recognise each other's driving licences directly, without requiring a permit or translation. EU and EEA mutual recognition is the largest such arrangement, which is why an EU licence holder driving within the EU generally needs no International Driving Permit.
Licence origin
Licence origin is the country or jurisdiction that issued a driving licence. It, rather than nationality or residence, usually determines whether a permit or translation is expected — which is why the same requirement can differ between two people travelling together.
Non-Latin script licence
A non-Latin script licence is one printed in an alphabet such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Japanese, Korean, Thai or Chinese. Several countries base their translation requirement on readability rather than nationality, so a non-Latin script licence triggers a translation requirement where a Latin-script licence from the same country would not.
Green card insurance
A green card is an international motor insurance certificate evidencing that a vehicle carries the minimum liability cover required in the countries it will be driven through. It concerns the vehicle rather than the driver, and is separate from any driving licence or permit requirement.
How these definitions were written
Each definition is written to be correct when read on its own, with no surrounding context. Where a definition contains a factual claim about a specific country, that claim is sourced on the relevant country page rather than restated here without evidence.
The statement that no researched destination has published a policy accepting digital-only documents is a finding from our own dataset, not an assertion. The sample size, method and full figures are on the research findings page, and the underlying data is openly downloadable.
Definitions last reviewed: .